Game Review

If you didn't spend most of this game off your seat, you weren't watching! This was a riveting, gut-wrenching, neck-turning, ball-tearing ripsnorter of a match between the Blues and reigning premiers Hawthorn at the MCG, and it will be remembered for years.

At first the Blues kicked ahead, but the Hawks, through Jarryd Roughhead could not be restrained. The big Hawk forward had a day out and marked everything that came his way. He ended up with eight dynamic goals for the match, but so too did Carlton spearhead Brendan Fevola, who was equally dominant in Carlton's attack. The shootout between two of the best power forwards in the game was a highlight of this wonderful game of football. The third and fourth quarters saw the Hawks pull ahead, before late surges brought the young Blues back within striking distance; one point down at three quarter time, but within four with a minute or so to go in the last.

Then came one last surge forward by the Blues, and Fev took a another strong mark 30 metres out on an angle. We were all up off our seats, waiting for the ball to leave the boot and go through. We were 5 points behind and could nab this game....

Kick...Its THROUGH...IT's THROUGH...ITS HIT THE POST!!!

A mere touch of the Sherrin on the right goalpost padding was spotted by the goal umpire. He waved one flag, and twenty seconds later the final siren sounded. Universally acknowledged as one of the games of the year, this was truly an epic match.

If only...If only...there were so many If Only's... A few bad kick-ins. A terrible decision by the Umpire to not pay a 50 against Lance Franklin, beaten by young Blue Paul Bower all game. Some ball handling mistakes. And finally, Fev's miss. But what a match!

Statistically, the average age of this Carlton side was 24 years and 96 days, with an average League experience of 85.7 games per player. Aaron Joseph was the youngest, at 19 years, 302 days old in his sixth VFL game.

Its interesting to ponder that the Hawks had over 50,000 members, and Carlton over 40,000, by this stage of the season, yet only 69,104 people attended this Hawthorn home match at the MCG, on a sunny autumn afternoon, with four of the top five goal kickers after Round 5 all playing.

Despite this agonising defeat, the young Blues held on to fourth spot on the ladder after round six, with a 3-win, 3-loss record and a healthy percentage of 121.31.